Mining company Vale, the largest coal exporter in Mozambique, presents its third quarter results in Maputo today, revising the production estimates for the year downwards.
“As a result of the continued implementation” of “structural changes”, the coal production target was revised “to approximately 12 million tons by 2018”, Vale’s production and sales report for the third quarter, which is available on the Internet, now reads.
The review comes after Vale announced in May that it planned to produce 15 million tonnes of coal this year instead of 16 million tonnes, as a result of bad weather affecting its Moatize production zone in the western province of Tete.
Coal exports have been one of the engines of the Mozambican economy.
After the first review of Vale’s production projections, the Minister of Economy and Finance admitted that this would lead to a reduction in the growth prospects of the gross domestic product – which in the first three quarters of this year was 3.4%.
The company also had to deal last month with the shutdown of “one-third of its operations”, corresponding to “one of four sections of the Moatize mine”, after the population protested against blasting harmful to health and intolerable pollution levels.
However, in later statements to Lusa, Vale clarified that the situation had a “reduced impact” on its production.
Source: Lusa via Club Of Mozambique
